A 10 percent pay reduction for Oakridge teachers is part of the latest contract offer the school board has proposed during negotiations that have dragged on for a year and a half.

Oakridge Superintendent Tom Livezey said the school board is nervous about the future of school funding, including the possible elimination of the personal property tax that could cost the district $376,000.

Oakridge proposed the cuts in two ways. One proposal has teachers taking a 5 percent pay cut from Jan. 1 through June 30, and then another 5.5 percent pay cut through June 2013. The other would have them take a straight 10 percent cut. The proposals would freeze longevity "step" increases in pay.

The board's contract offers are for Jan. 1, 2012, through June 30, 2013. Both sides have another mediation session scheduled for Thursday.

Teacher salaries in the district range from about $38,000 to $70,000, according to the expired contract terms of which teachers still work under.

Oakridge also is proposing that teachers begin paying 20 percent of premiums for health, vision, dental and long-term disability insurance, totaling between $128 and $317 per month depending on the number of dependents, according to a district analysis.

Beginning in July, they would pay premium costs above a hard cap the district would pay. Teachers' costs would be between $176 and $509, the analysis shows.

Health insurance would also change, with the addition of a $200 in-network or $400 out-of-network deductible and $20 office co-pays.

A new state law limits school districts to paying either the hard cap, which ranges from $5,500 for a single employee to $15,000 for a family, or not more than 80 percent of employees' health care premiums. The new law is effective with new medical coverage years, which in Oakridge's case is July 1, for contracts that hadn't been reached before Sept. 15.

"While we agree that our teachers deserve the highest pay and benefits possible, by law we must balance the budget," the letter states. "Our bargaining efforts will continue to reflect this."

The most recent school proposal, made in November, is significantly harder on teachers than ones made earlier that did not have any sort of pay reduction. The district proposed last June that teachers pay 10 percent of the premium for Priority Health medical insurance, but the teachers wanted to stay with MESSA, which is affiliated with the teachers union.

In September, the board agreed to let the teachers have MESSA insurance, with the deductibles, but added the 20 percent premium cost. Teachers would not have had any salary increases, including step increases, but they wouldn't have had any pay reduction either.

In hindsight, Livezey said the district is better off with the teachers rejecting that offer.

“If they agreed to it, anxiety would have been high in the district,” Livezey said.